Studies examining the positive emotion of foreign language enjoyment (FLE) have recently increased exponentially, as researchers are applying the tenets of positive psychology in applied linguistics. It is therefore an appropriate time to take stock of the current literature and conduct a preliminary meta-analysis. The relationships between FLE…

The positive psychology movement (Seligman, 1998) has contributed to the proclamation of a positive turn in second language acquisition (SLA) (MacIntyre et al., 2016). Within the context of individual differences, "self-efficacy" (Bandura, 1997), an individual's judgment of their capability to achieve goals, has gained particular…

This study focuses on the predictive power of linguistic (i.e., general English proficiency; identified simply as "proficiency" in this paper) and non-linguistic (i.e., language learning anxiety and self-regulation) factors on the academic success of English medium instruction (EMI) students studying in engineering and social sciences…

Learners' academic self-concepts and attributions have been widely evidenced to substantially regulate their educational development. Developmentally, they will not only operate in a mutually reinforcing manner. Rather, self-concepts will directly affect learners' outcome attributions in a particular academic setting. Current research in the…

The role of self-regulation in general learning has been investigated for some time now. Its significance and contribution to second language (L2) listening, however, has yet to be discussed extensively with empirical support. This article reports a case study involving four college EFL students in China over a six-month period of self-regulated…

This paper investigates the attitudinal/motivational predictors of second language (L2) academic achievement. Young adult learners of English as a foreign language (N = 311) completed several self-report measures and the Single-Target Implicit Association Test. Examination of the motivational profiles of high and low achievers revealed that…

Empirical evaluations of practical teaching units integrating content and language in higher education are rare and deserve more attention. The current article aims to narrow this gap by providing an empirical study of an integrating content and language in higher education (ICLHE, Smit & Dafouz, 2012) teaching module. It investigates the…

Since the inception of the L2 motivational self system (Dörnyei, 2005), which operationalises motivation as a function of learners' future identities, the field of L2 motivation has seen a growing interest in mental imagery. Numerous studies have examined the role of a future self-guide, that is, the ideal L2 self, and have confirmed it to be…

This paper first considers what it means to become truly proficient in a language other than the native one. It then looks briefly at the evolution of dual language programs. Next, it focuses on the issue of whether the first language (L1) or the second language (L2) serves as the language of mediation. Other dual language program issues are then…

The present case study investigated university students' academic and linguistic gains during a semester-long exchange program abroad. Thirty three third-year English majors from a Chinese university answered a battery of questionnaires and 13 of them participated in semi-structured interviews both prior to and after the program. Analyses of the…